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Mishandled Wheelchairs and Scooters by Airlines

The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) nowincludesthe number of wheelchairs and scooters checked and mishandled by the 12 reporting airlines. The damage statistics are now required for the monthly consumer reports following Paralyzed Veterans of America’s lawsuit against the DOT, and subsequent Congressional action in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. This new information has been long-sought by disability rights organizations, led by Paralyzed Veterans of America, whose members say damaged equipment is one of their most common travel hassles.

January 2019:

RANK

CARRIER

JANUARY 2019

NUMBER OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS ENPLANED

NUMBER OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS MISHANDLED

PERCENT OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS MISHANDLED

1

DELTA AIR LINES NETWORK

12,670

107

0.84

- DELTA AIR LINES

10,239

91

0.89

- BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS

2,431

16

0.66

2

ALLEGIANT AIR

863

11

1.27

3

UNITED AIRLINES NETWORK

6,845

88

1.29

- UNITED AIRLINES

6,160

69

1.12

- BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS

685

19

2.77

4

ALASKA AIRLINES NETWORK

1,632

23

1.41

- ALASKA AIRLINES

1,297

20

1.54

- BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS

335

3

0.90

5

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES NETWORK

573

10

1.75

- HAWAIIAN AIRLINES

573

10

1.75

- BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS

0

0

0.00

6

JETBLUE AIRWAYS

1,213

30

2.47

7

SPIRIT AIRLINES

1,360

42

3.09

8

FRONTIER AIRLINES

772

25

3.24

9

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES**

4,352

178

4.09

10

AMERICAN AIRLINES NETWORK

2,835

167

5.89

- AMERICAN AIRLINES***

2,271

130

5.72

- BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS

564

37

6.56

TOTAL

33,115

681

2.06

* All U.S. operating airlines with at least 0.5 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues, as determined by DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

**Southwest informed the Department that for a portion of January 2019, it reported mishandlings of all power-assisted and manual wheelchairs and scooters; however, Southwest stated that its enplaned wheelchairs and scooters number did not include any manual wheelchairs enplaned by the carrier. Southwest has disclosed to the Department that it will have the ability to reliably capture manual wheelchairs enplaned on or after January 15, 2019, in its enplaned wheelchairs and scooters number submitted to the Department.

***American informed the Department that for January 2019, it reported mishandlings of all power-assisted and manual wheelchairs and scooters; however, American stated that its process for determining the enplanement number of wheelchairs and scooters may not have consistently accounted for all wheelchairs and scooters enplaned. American has also stated that this process may have impacted American’s wholly- owned subsidiary Envoy and American’s other branded code share carriers ExpressJet and SkyWest. American has indicated to the Department that it is enhancing its process to reliably capture all reportable enplaned wheelchairs and scooters, which may take a few months.